Afternoon rugby returns to Southland as the draw for the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup has been announced by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

All but one of the SIT Zero Fees Southland Stags five home games, at Rugby Park Stadium Invercargill, will be played on either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon kicking off at 2:05pm and 4.35pm, with one Thursday evening game at the new time of 7.05pm.

The Stags play in three cross-over matches where they will play Premiership teams Bay Of Plenty, North Harbour and Waikato and the remaining games will be against Championship sides.

The draw has been split evenly with five home and five away matches.

Southland will start their Mitre 10 Cup campaign at home against Hawkes Bay on Sunday August 9 at 4.35pm.

Southland will travel away to play Bay Of Plenty in Rotorua, before returning for two home games in a row, North Harbour Thursday 20 August 7.05pm and Premiership side Waikato on Saturday 29 August 4.35pm. 

At the start of September Southland will take on Northland away in what has been a highlight match over the past two seasons. 

The Stags then take on Taranaki at home in Invercargill on Sunday 13 September 4.35pm, followed by two games on the road against 2019 Premiership champions Tasman followed by Manawatu. 

Southland's last regular season home game will be against neighbouring rival Otago at the new afternoon time of 2.05pm. Rugby Southland are expecting a large fan base to turn out as they did against Otago in Dunedin last August. 

The final regular season game will be on the road against Counties Manukau, who the Stags laid down a convincing win over in 2019. 

In weeks two, four and five, which are test match weekends, NZR and Sky will be trailing having two Friday matches kicking off simultaneously at 7:05pm.

For head Coach Dale MacLeod the focus is on scouting local club talent, with the remaining Stags contracts being awarded in April when club season is underway. 

The Mitre 10 Cup starts on Thursday 6 August when North Harbour host Canterbury in Albany.

Article added: Friday 28 February 2020